Close Brothers Group plc (CBG) Q2 2024 Earnings Call

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Close Brothers Group Half Year Results 2024 presentation. My name is Torben and I will be the operator for your call this morning. If you would like to ask a question during the question and answer session on today's call, you can do so by pressing star followed by one on your telephone keypad. We are now going live to the presentation room where you may hear silence or background noise until the call begins. Good morning and welcome to the presentation of Close Brothers first half 2024 results. I'll start with a brief reflection on our performance in the first half. Mike will then cover our financials. I'll come back and talk about recent development, the FCA's announcement of the review into motor finance and also our strategy update. At the end we welcome your questions which you can submit either by the telephone conference line or over the webcast, either submitted during the presentation. Our businesses delivered around the first half. In banking, the loan book increased 4%, with discipline and improved credit performance. CBAN delivered net inflows of 9%, although winter floods performance remains affected by weakness in retail trading activity. we maintained our strong balance sheet and conservative approach to managing our financial resources, a long-standing priority for us. Our CE2 on capital ratio was 13%, significantly above our applicable requirements of 9.5%. Finally, the FCA's review of motor finance commissions is ongoing, with significant uncertainty arising for the industry and the group. At this very early stage, it would be premature to predict the outcome of this review or estimate the potential impact on the group. However, the Board recognizes the paramount importance of preparing for a range of outcomes fr...